Mikal Muhammad

MARK 399
Inclusion Paper

How Hip-Hop has been Influenced by Asian Culture

Hip-Hop is one of the biggest genres in music and made way to shape many parts of the

culture for people not only in the United States but around the world. A big part of Hip-Hop is

displaying the struggles of people in the black community as well as setting trends for any part of

society including fashion, dialect, and even politics. But along with the representation of the

black community in the United States, Hip-Hop has also had ties to many different influences

from Asian culture within the musical genre. We have seen rappers take different aspects of

Asian culture such as mainstream media, references to culture and fashion influenced from the

culture. The relationship between the two cultures has not always seen the reciprocity of Hip-

Hop culture being an influencer to Asian culture, but some growth has been seen with the rising

of Asian American Hip-Hop artist coming into the industry. Exploring the different ways Asian

culture has been incorporated into Hip-Hop music can be explored further to show the

representation of this subculture.

Before diving into how Hip-Hop has paid homage to Asian Culture, it is necessary to

distinguish between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation. First, the definition of

cultural appropriation, according to the Cambridge dictionary, is, “the act of taking or using

things from a culture that is not your own, especially without showing that you understand or

respect this culture” (Cambridge University Press). This definition would be different from

cultural appreciation which would be recognizing where the ideas from the culture and group
came from and acknowledging you have some sort of connection with them. However, the line

between the two concepts is slim and is crossed more times than not. One of the most recent and

controversial events of cultural appropriation was Kim Kardashian posting a picture to Instagram

wearing cornrows which is a hairstyle that has been used by African American women for a long

time. An article in the Huffington Post writes about how the instance is cultural appropriation by

saying, “As Manigault-Bryant pointed out, Kardashian wearing braids “becomes a kind of

symbol of beauty in some ways.” But black students have been punished for wearing similar

hairstyles. That double standard, she said, “complicates the idea of appropriation” (Brucculieri).

The issue between the two cases is that a hairstyle which has heritage in the black community is

looked down upon until a person not of the black racial group wears it. Hip-Hop on the other

hand has shown a history of cultural appreciation to the Asian culture and continues to be

incorporated in the genre in many ways.

Asian culture in hip-hop cannot be discussed without mentioning Wu-Tang clan which

many see as the first hip-hop group to bring elements from cultures other than the black culture.

The Medium wrote an article titled, “Wu-Tang Clan and the East Asian Culture Influences on

Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)”, which spoke about the contents of the album and how they

incorporated different aspects into the album. The article states, “While many of the

groundbreaking rap albums before Enter The Wu-Tang dealt primarily with American themes

and sounds, the Wu-Tang Clan went international with their album, combining the gritty day to

day to life of poverty in Staten Island with the fantastical, exuberating elements of martial arts.

The Wu-Tang Clan took inspiration from the precision and tactics of martial arts, tactics that

were further displayed in a hobby of theirs, chess, and the result is the album you hear today”

(Ryan). Wu-Tang had used many different themes within the album, but the influence from
Asian culture came purely from watching Martial Arts movies and took ideas and themes from

them. The ideas to take parts of these movies and attribute them to their music came from RZA,

who some see as the founder of the group, when he was younger being exposed to these types of

films. An article in the Huffington Post writes about RZA’s thoughts on the movies saying, “The

action sequences and the other-worldly quality of the settings these films took place in is what

first appealed to RZA. But as he got older, RZA began to notice the recurring theme that these

were stories of a protagonist trying to save dying beliefs from tyrannical governments” (Van

Luling). The connection between the two worlds brought the path of adding Asian culture into

the various forms of hip-hop.

The connection that RZA brought may have some question how his use of Asian culture

is not seen as appropriation rather than what was mentioned earlier with the hair style by Kim

Kardashian. The first thing that makes this cultural appreciation is the fact that RZA often credits

his influences and advocates for the different ways to present hip-hop music. The article in the

New York Times titled” What Distinguishes Cultural Exchange from Cultural Appropriation?”

spoke about RZA’s early life saying, “RZA, the de facto head of Wu-Tang Clan, has noted in

interviews that when he was growing up in Staten Island, his upstairs neighbors in the projects

were Chinese kids, and that all the gold from rapper bling came from Chinatown. Chinese

culture was always part of his life” (Galchen). The influence of Asian culture throughout his life

is just used to continue expressing his life through his own lens, and often pays homage where he

cultivated this culture.

Hip-hop uses references from other forms of Asian culture, more frequently today, the

anime culture brought from Japan. Various artist in hip-hop have used styles or even snippets

from different anime to incorporate into their music which is just another way to show
appreciation to the culture. An article in Revolt spoke about some more popular artist who have

done just that, adding clips from different anime, writing, “It may be unknown to those outside

of the creating process, but some of the biggest artists have sampled anime themes for their

songs. J. Cole's somber opus "4 Your Eyez Only" samples "To The Oasis" from the popular

anime Lupin III. Somehow, Cam'Ron and Vado managed to get a hold of "Shohmyo" from the

anime film Akira for their 2011 hit "Speaking In Tungs." And Chance The Rapper's debut

project 10 Day features a scene from the classic program Gundam Wing” (Alston). The range of

the use of anime goes even further with having ties to visual effects as well.

The Kanye West video for “Stronger” directed by Hype Williams notably references the

similarities to a movie by Akira. The cross between hip-hop and anime has been for a long time

and the same thing is noticed vice versa.

Various anime has dabbled into using styles from hip-hop in designing or producing the

anime series which shows the amount of exchange between the two artforms. One of the most
famous anime to be created from hip-hop culture was Afro Samurai in 1999. Revolt gives a brief

history about the anime writing, “Afro Samurai, a manga known for its avant-garde way of

mixing soul and hip-hop music with anime stylings, was created by Japanese artist Takashi

Okazaki in 1999; it went on to receive an anime treatment in 2007” (Alston). The mixture of the

styles shows more compliments to the crafts which is a strong way to represent different cultures.

The connection is especially important because of the similarities between the two genres, even

Wu-Tang’s RZA said anime “represents the journey of the black man in America” which could

be reference to the main characters often having a challenge to overcome along with the constant

antagonist within the society. The exchange of culture goes farther than mixing anime and hip-op

as well.

There has always been a presence of Asian culture in hip-hop music, but now Asian hip-

hop artist are attracting more noticeable attention and increasing the audience for them. The

Asian hip-hop scene has been fueled by the company 88rising which crosses the Asian and

American pop-scene to bring more light to the different artist. An article in the New Yorker talks

about the artists affiliated with 88rising which states, “On the walls are framed photos of

88rising’s core roster: Joji, a Japanese-born singer whose graceful and heartbroken music belies

his past as a hugely successful YouTube comedian; Keith Ape, a Korean rapper known for his

rowdy, shrill style; the Higher Brothers, a streetwear--obsessed rap group from China who

named themselves for the Chinese electronics giant Haier; and Brian Imanuel, an Indonesian

rapper known as Rich Chigga” (Hsu). The up-in-coming Asian artists continue to bring a

diversity of experience and thought into the rap industry which can continue to bring forms of

exchange within the culture globally. These artists have already set the standard for other Asian
artists and have teamed up with other new artists such as XXXtentacion and Ski Mask the Slump

God.

Although progress for the exchange between Asian culture and hip-hop continues to grow

in the United States, China acted to ban hip-hop music and culture from all parts of their media.

An article on Cassius spoke about China’s efforts to remove hip-hop from the media saying,

“China has recently made announcements that it has officially banned all aspects of hip-hop

culture from the country’s television channels, according to the State Administration of Press,

Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the People’s Republic of China (SAPPRFT), which is

the nation’s top media regulator” (Townes). The regulation states the following rules for the act

listing:

 Absolutely do not use actors whose heart and morality are not aligned with the party and

whose morality is not noble

 Absolutely do not use actors who are tasteless, vulgar and obscene

 Absolutely do not use actors whose ideological level is low and have no class

 Absolutely do not use actors with stains, scandals and problematic moral integrity

The wording of the rules shows the perception of hip-hop music and culture globally, even with

all the various forms and narratives being told, a negative connotation about the culture brings

backlash to the industry. An article on ABC news interviewed younger consumers about the

impact of the governments ban saying, Hip hop is in such a rudimentary stage in China, my

friends all listen to pop and don't have any real feeling for rap, if the Government doesn't support

hip hop, it'll be very difficult for it to grow” (Birtles). However, hip-hop is known for its

subculture and rebellion to authority so this act may only spark more interest into the hip-hop
genre and culture for future Asian artists, thus continuing its push for more representation which

has been shifting.

Overall, hip-hop has been sharing aspects of Asian culture for a couple of decades now,

going back to the originators in the Wu-Tang Clan. The inclusion of the culture by using film,

media, fashion, and anime have continued to be influential on up incoming artists today. The use

of this culture has found its way back to the origin by starting the rise of new Asian hip-hop

artists which are set to be a part of the ever-growing rap industry. Even with the push-back from

China with the hip-hop influence on society, it continues to grow and evolve everyday globally

and will continue to inspire not only Asian artists to try their hands at rap music but also continue

to inspire those who are not directly a part of that culture to continue exploration into it. Hip-hop

is one of the biggest industries and also one of the most influential cultures in today’s society,

and with further inclusion of different cultures and experiences, it will continue to be a major

influence for years to come.

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